Darude with vocalist Sebastian Rejman during the rehearsal of the first semi-final of Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Picture: Thomas Hanses

Darude, the
Finnish representative of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, did not qualify for
the grand finale on Tuesday night in Tel Aviv, Israel.

While
performing “Look Away,” the electronic dance music artist hammered a semi-melancholic
melody at the keyboards while Sebastian Rejman, with a spiky haircut and wearing
a leather jacket, looked deep into the lens and belted out: “Is it in my head?
Am I the only one?”

In the
background, a dancer in performed modern dance moves in unison with the song,
which slowly picked up the tempo and morphed into more cheerful. Toward the end
of the tune, a video of a woman swimming under the water in a dark evening
dress started playing on the gigantic screen in the background. There were big
waves. A storm at the sea of some sort.

Then the sun
came out, a view above the clouds.

Look away, look away

Look away, look away

Look away, look away

The song
continued.

“In Finnish,
the official word would start with a ‘v’,” Darude said to the media after the performance
while pondering on the question: “How do you feel?”

He was
referring to the famous curse word, vituttaa.
(There’s really no good English equivalent for this expression. We will have to
settle for “I am pissed.”)

“Since the beginning, we have said that we will do our best and we will see where it will take us. This time it was not enough,” Rejman said.

The following ten countries have qualified for the grand final on Saturday, May 18.